Lamar Brandon Stevens (born July 9, 1997) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

High school career

Stevens attended

The Haverford School , motto_translation = , address = 450 Lancaster Avenue , location = , region = , city = Haverford , county = , state = Pennsylvania , ...

Haverford Township, Pennsylvania Haverford Township is a home rule municipality township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.Roman Catholic High School , motto_translation = Faith and Knowledge , accreditation = MSA , nickname = The Cahillites , conference = Philadelphia Catholic League , colors = Purple & Gold , yearbook ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

where he played alongside future Penn State teammates,

Tony Carr Anthony Carr MBE (born 5 September 1950) is an English sports coach and former Director of Youth Development at the West Ham United football club's youth academy and is recognised as one of the most influential figures in English football. A fo ...

and Nazeer Bostick. During his senior year, Stevens was once again named to All-State and All-District teams, as well as All-Philadelphia. Roman Catholic dominated all season, ranking Number 1 in Pennsylvania and top 15 nationally, according to

MaxPreps MaxPreps is an American website that specializes in coverage of American high school sports. The site is owned by Paramount Global and is a division of CBS Sports. Founded on August 1, 2002, the company has covered up to 29 sports, including b ...

. Stevens scored 20 points on the way to winning the state championship game.

Recruiting

After the season, Stevens was ranked 100th on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's Top 100 recruits of 2016 and third-ranked overall in Pennsylvania. ; Honors and Awards * '' 3x PIAA AAAA All-State (2014, 2015, 2016)'' * ''2016 PIAA Class AAAA State Champions'' * ''2016 Philadelphia Player of the Year by the Daily News'' * ''All-Philadelphia First Team (2016)'' * 3x PIAA District 12 First Team (2014, 2015, 2016)''

College career

During Steven's freshman season at Penn State, he started all 33 games for the Nittany Lions and was named Freshman of the Week multiple times with teammate

. He was named as a First Team All-Freshman by the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and averaged over 12 points per game his first season. Stevens scored a season-high 30 points on January 5, 2018 against Northwestern. As a sophomore, Stevens averaged 15.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He helped the Nittany Lions post a 26–13 record and win the NIT. Stevens was named Most Outstanding Player of the NIT. As a junior, Stevens averaged 19.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He was named All-Big Ten Conference first-team accolades by the media and second-team honors from the league’s coaches. Stevens was an All-District VII second-team selection by the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University o ...

. After the season, Stevens declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

but decided to return to Penn State. On December 16, 2019, Stevens was named Big Ten player of the week after scoring 18 points and collecting 11 rebounds in a victory over fourth-ranked and previously undefeated

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. On February 1, 2020, Stevens became the third player in school history to surpass 2,000 career points, scoring 13 points in a 76–64 win against

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. He scored a career-high 33 points on February 8, leading the Nittany Lions to a 83–77 win over

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. At the close of the regular season, Stevens was named to the First Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media.

Professional career

Cleveland Cavaliers (2020–present)

After going undrafted in the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

, Stevens was signed by the

to a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

. He made his NBA debut on December 28, 2020 in a 118–94 win over the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. He scored two points and collected two rebounds in five minutes of action. On February 23, 2021, he scored eight points including the game winner in a 112–111 win over the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

. On April 14, 2021, Stevens signed a multi-year contract with the Cavaliers.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, 40 , , 0 , , 12.5 , , .456 , , .160 , , .725 , , 2.4 , , .6 , , .4 , , .3 , , 4.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 63 , , 13 , , 16.1 , , .489 , , .277 , , .707 , , 2.6 , , .7 , , .5 , , .3 , , 6.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 103 , , 13 , , 14.7 , , .479 , , .244 , , .714 , , 2.5 , , .7 , , .5 , , .3 , , 5.3

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, 33 , , 33 , , 27.8 , , .429 , , .344 , , .767 , , 5.5 , , 1.7 , , .8 , , .6 , , 12.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 39 , , 39 , , 33.1 , , .465 , , .319 , , .696 , , 5.9 , , 1.9 , , .6 , , 1.1 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 36.9 , , .422 , , .220 , , .770 , , 7.7 , , 2.1 , , .7 , , .8 , , 19.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 31.1 , , .423 , , .263 , , .719 , , 6.9 , , 2.2 , , 1.1 , , 1.2 , , 17.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 135 , , 135 , , 32.2 , , .435 , , .276 , , .738 , , 6.5 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , .9 , , 16.3

Personal life

Stevens is the author of the children's book "Lamar's Climb -- A Journey to Happy Valley." The book, which teaches geography based on his experience and involves people with special needs in the creative process, was distributed at Penn State games.

References

External links

Penn State Nittany Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Lamar 1997 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Philadelphia Cleveland Cavaliers players Haverford School alumni Penn State Nittany Lions basketball players Small forwards Undrafted National Basketball Association players